ElPresidenteGrande

I’m a month shy of turning 39, but I vaguely remember the initial launch of US troops from Kuwait in 1990. I would have been 3 years old.

I also remember the events surrounding the Clinton inauguration. I don’t really remember the inauguration itself, but I remember watching news reports of Bush leaving after the inauguration on Marine One because I was (still am) a huge aviation nerd.

The earliest clear recollection of a major news event was probably the events surrounding Waco in 1993 then the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

Dinesh D’Souza would be a good choice, and I hope they get him for one of the events. His intellect and demeanor is perfect for this format.

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I'm sure most pastors don't want to bring politics into church…

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Politics being downstream from spirituality, and culture being downstream from politics; I don’t understand the sentiment of not discussing politics. Pastor’s have a responsibility of being shepherds to their flock. I would find a different church if my pastor stayed silent.

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

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If you trade in also consider the tax savings on the new car purchase.

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Is the tax savings based on the actual trade-in amount or is it based on the trade-in minus the payoff of the loan? The trade-in would likely make me upside down on the car I own by a few thousand.

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CarMax has been pretty competitive and fair lately.

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They were really low. Not anywhere near the range of kbb’s value. Granted I understand that Volvo’s aren’t cars that most people seek out, but that may just mean that it takes longer to sell privately.

Obviously. I’ve not had any issues with the car at all, but knowing European cars’ reputation as being costly to maintain, this might give some buyers pause. I wouldn’t put it in the same class as BMW or Mercedes relative to maintenance costs, but it’s not as easy and inexpensive to maintain as a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. Just giving the OT my thoughts.

What are the initiation fee and monthly dues there?

I watched an interesting documentary on AfD last night. It was clearly done from a critical point of view, but I watched it in the same way I watch US media’s reporting of the MAGA movement. AfD wants to re-establish German sovereignty, but some of their positions seem shortsighted. For instance, they want US troops completely out of Germany, which I can get behind. Poland wants to become to the US what Germany has been for the last 70 years, so it would be easy to move bases and troops to Poland. However, with removing US troops, AfD also wants all nuclear weapons out of the country. Nuclear weapons are a strong deterrence to adverse actors.

AfD doesn’t believe that US interests and German interests are aligned, but they aren’t really clear with what they mean by that. If they are talking about neocon foreign policy, I agree with them, but MAGA is addressing that here. Maybe that changes their position, but who knows. They also seem to want a friendlier, more dependent, relationship with China, which is definitely not in anyone’s interest, except China’s.

Below is a link to the English translation of their 96 page manifesto, which outlines their policy positions.

Alternative for Deutschland Manifesto

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That’s a slippery slope I don’t want any President going down,

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Definitely a slippery slope that would be weaponized.

We've had the TR7/DR7 washer and dryer for 1.5 years now and, while I like the washing machine, the dryer isn't living up to the hype. I put a small load of towels and run a 90 minute cycle, and the towels are still damp. This happens often. I'm wondering at this point if I have some sort of issue with the machine.